"Who the hell do you think you are?"
"Why, I'm the greatest man on Earth."
"No you're not...you're an arrogant prick."
"You mean you're the arrogant prick."
"No, I meant you."
"My friend, your opinion of my character is completely invalid as far as I'm concerned. As long as I know who I am, it does not matter what you think of me."
"My friend, with that attitude you will win a lot of enemies and lose a lot of friends."
"So life goes."
"The world will kick you in the teeth! Can't you see?"
"So be it. I will work the harder."
"Everyone would be against you! Do you think they care?"
"Let me say it again, what they think of me is completely invalid as far as I'm concerned."
"You think you're such hot shit"
"Your opinions are merely the reflections of what other people say to you, my sad friend. You have no soul, no mind of your own. You're merely a rag-doll controlled by a collective entity."
"You're nuts."
"No. I'm free."
"But you can't do that! You can't just declare yourself as the greatest man on Earth and jabber about freedom and insult society and whatnot! Who the hell do you think you are?"
"I am the greatest man on Earth, for I have honed my abilities to near perfection. I am the greatest man on Earth for I have reason to acquire knowledge, I have intuition, I have everything that I need to validate my existence."
"You're crazy! You're crazy! You're a crazy son of a bitch!"
"Crazy? Look at yourself then. Is your life any saner than mine? Who do you think you are? Do you even know? Are you even aware of your own existence? Can't you not see that there is a dark shadow looming over you, surreptitiously watching your every move?"
"You're seeing things..."
"You're in denial."
"In denial? For heaven's sake, let us just cease this ridiculous conversation and pretend that it never happened in the first place."
"You can't handle the truth."
"Whether your insane theories are true or not, I have to live. And your way of living certainly violates all the principles and morals that I have lived by ever since the day of my birth. Goodbye sir!"
"Goodbye to you too then."
"Hmph!"
Showing posts with label Philosophy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philosophy. Show all posts
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Terrorist
Novemeber 18, 2009. The sun rose at 6:00 AM and greeted the slumbering residents of a New Jersey suburban town with its warm embrace. At 7:00, approximately 1100 students of the local high school had emptied their breakfast bowls. At 7:35, they were in school, shuffling through hallways to get to class. In the mean time, teachers straightened out desks and chairs, anticipating another bustling session in the midst of an even more bustling environment. Janitors began their grueling work, and the school kitchens came alive with the salty aroma of French fries and hamburgers. Yes, it was just another typical day in West Windsor Plainsboro High School South. Everything was going according to the schedule. Then a terrorist paid a visit. That terrorist was I.
I wore thick sunglasses, a white surgical mask, and a purple hooded shirt. My objective was not to simulate terrorist activities nor demonstrate my ignorance of Halloween’s actual date, but to challenge the common belief that a masked identity indicates terrorism.
A mask holds many meanings. It can mean secrecy. It can also mean sickness. But many times, people associate masks with illegal activities, the most favorable one of them being terrorism.
Terrorism is omnipresent. In the news, we see Al Quaeda militants beheading innocent bystanders. In the movies, we see Russian extremists hijack Air Force 1. In the papers, we read about American soldiers getting mangled by the dangerous traps set up by the Taliban. The motives behind each terrorist organization may vary, but one thing for certain is that all terrorists wear masks. So says society.
I put on my mask because I wanted to show other people that underneath my disguise I was still Minjeh Lee, a 16-year old Korean American sophomore at West Windsor Plainsboro High School South. No one believed me. They all thought I was a terrorist.
I wore thick sunglasses, a white surgical mask, and a purple hooded shirt. My objective was not to simulate terrorist activities nor demonstrate my ignorance of Halloween’s actual date, but to challenge the common belief that a masked identity indicates terrorism.
A mask holds many meanings. It can mean secrecy. It can also mean sickness. But many times, people associate masks with illegal activities, the most favorable one of them being terrorism.
Terrorism is omnipresent. In the news, we see Al Quaeda militants beheading innocent bystanders. In the movies, we see Russian extremists hijack Air Force 1. In the papers, we read about American soldiers getting mangled by the dangerous traps set up by the Taliban. The motives behind each terrorist organization may vary, but one thing for certain is that all terrorists wear masks. So says society.
I put on my mask because I wanted to show other people that underneath my disguise I was still Minjeh Lee, a 16-year old Korean American sophomore at West Windsor Plainsboro High School South. No one believed me. They all thought I was a terrorist.
“Who is that kid? Is he a terrorist?”
“Oh my god, a terrorist!”
“Dude, you look like a terrorist.”
“Why are you dressed like a terrorist?”
“Hey, when’s the next Jihad?”
I didn’t understand. Why did my mask make me a terrorist? Don’t non-terrorists also wear masks? Take superheroes for example. Batman, Ironman, Green Lantern, and Spiderman all wear masks. Nobody calls these guys terrorists. So why did not people think that I was a justice-defending, liberty-loving masked hero?
I walked into my American Studies class to find out why. My teacher, Mrs. Schomburg made no initial comment on my appearance but stared at me for a good amount of time. Then she began teaching. After five minutes, she paused abruptly and asked me to take my mask off. I asked her why.
“It’s creeping me out.”
I tried to reason with her why my mask should not disturb her in anyway. I was not pretending to be a “creepy” figure nor was I trying to gain attention from other people by blatantly acknowledging my new “outfit”. I was only sitting in class, listening to her lecture on the Continental Congress. I also told her that my external appearance had nothing to do with my objectives.
“I don’t care,” she replied. “You look very intimidating.”
Still, I did not take my mask off. I just did not understand why she could not disregard my appearance and continue teaching.
“Please, please take it off.”
At this point, I felt compassion for the lady, because from the way she was begging me to take my mask off, she must have found my appearance genuinely frightening. I acted accordingly, and took off my mask.
The next day, I put on my mask again and went to school as usual. I had chemistry first. I walked in nonchalantly and settled down on my desk. Mrs. Jaworsky, my chemistry teacher, glanced at me and then told me to take off my mask.
I did not answer her.
“You have to take it off or you will get a zero.”
I still did not take it off.
“Look, you stay here with the mask on you will get a zero. You really want to keep that thing on, you will have to go the counselor’s office and tell her why you were excused from class. You will still get a zero though.”
Way to hit my weak spot, Mrs. Jaworsky, I thought. I did not want to give up on my project easily, but I did not want to take any academic repercussions either. I thought hard with both hands on my head.
“Stay here! Stay here!” My classmates exclaimed. The room filled with raucous chants and hoots. I knew what I had to do. I took off my mask and stayed in class.
The purpose of transcendentalism is not to conform. Had I stayed in class with my outfit on, I would have conformed to the desires of my classmates. Instead, I followed my inner thoughts and concluded that academic excellence was the priority motive. I took off my mask.
“It’s the rule,” Mrs. Jaworsky said. “You can’t wear anything like that in school.”
Why?
I didn’t understand. Why did my mask make me a terrorist? Don’t non-terrorists also wear masks? Take superheroes for example. Batman, Ironman, Green Lantern, and Spiderman all wear masks. Nobody calls these guys terrorists. So why did not people think that I was a justice-defending, liberty-loving masked hero?
I walked into my American Studies class to find out why. My teacher, Mrs. Schomburg made no initial comment on my appearance but stared at me for a good amount of time. Then she began teaching. After five minutes, she paused abruptly and asked me to take my mask off. I asked her why.
“It’s creeping me out.”
I tried to reason with her why my mask should not disturb her in anyway. I was not pretending to be a “creepy” figure nor was I trying to gain attention from other people by blatantly acknowledging my new “outfit”. I was only sitting in class, listening to her lecture on the Continental Congress. I also told her that my external appearance had nothing to do with my objectives.
“I don’t care,” she replied. “You look very intimidating.”
Still, I did not take my mask off. I just did not understand why she could not disregard my appearance and continue teaching.
“Please, please take it off.”
At this point, I felt compassion for the lady, because from the way she was begging me to take my mask off, she must have found my appearance genuinely frightening. I acted accordingly, and took off my mask.
The next day, I put on my mask again and went to school as usual. I had chemistry first. I walked in nonchalantly and settled down on my desk. Mrs. Jaworsky, my chemistry teacher, glanced at me and then told me to take off my mask.
I did not answer her.
“You have to take it off or you will get a zero.”
I still did not take it off.
“Look, you stay here with the mask on you will get a zero. You really want to keep that thing on, you will have to go the counselor’s office and tell her why you were excused from class. You will still get a zero though.”
Way to hit my weak spot, Mrs. Jaworsky, I thought. I did not want to give up on my project easily, but I did not want to take any academic repercussions either. I thought hard with both hands on my head.
“Stay here! Stay here!” My classmates exclaimed. The room filled with raucous chants and hoots. I knew what I had to do. I took off my mask and stayed in class.
The purpose of transcendentalism is not to conform. Had I stayed in class with my outfit on, I would have conformed to the desires of my classmates. Instead, I followed my inner thoughts and concluded that academic excellence was the priority motive. I took off my mask.
“It’s the rule,” Mrs. Jaworsky said. “You can’t wear anything like that in school.”
Why?
Because it obviously means you’re up to no good with that thing on your head, you pesky terrorist.
Her harsh blue eyes seemed to bore that thought into my head.
My friends thought I was terrorist. My teachers thought I was a terrorist. Pretty much everyone in WWPHSS thought I was a terrorist. I only had to put on a mask and shades to enjoy such a grand conviction. I came to realize that people associate masked figures immediately to terrorism because society makes them believe so. The media shows countless images of battered streets and destroyed buildings, followed by even more images of masked men with guns and knives. The media pumps fear into people by consistently channeling information of the latest terrorist activity on screen. Even the Board of Education prohibits the wearing of hoods in campus. Why? It is because they are afraid. They are afraid that a hooded or masked student will come to school and shoot everyone, because that is what hooded and masked people do on the television.
What is surprising though, is that not all terrorists mask themselves. The men who were responsible for the 9/11 bombings did not wear masks. They were dressed like average businessmen. The men who bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City were not masked. The gunman Charles Carl Roberts did not wear a mask when he held the Amish school kids hostage. The two boys who wreaked havoc at Columbine High School did not wear any masks. They headed right in with their guns and shot at everyone.
If my peers and teachers at WWPHSS had reasoning skills, they would not have associated my disguise with terrorism. Instead, they blindly believed what society told them to believe. Mrs. Schomburg’s remarks and Mrs. Jaworsky’s icy looks were not derived from their thoughts. They were reflections of society’s stereotype on terrorists. If I were an actual terrorist, I would not have elaborated my appearance in such a way to draw so much attention. That would have greatly hindered my motive in destroying the school or kidnapping a faculty member (hypothetically, of course. I would never do such things).
Fear of terrorism comes not from a genuine fear of terrorism, but from the crude images that society provides for the masses to absorb. Because of this irrational fear, people continue to believe society, as if believing is the only protection from harm. Yet, people “must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but explore if it be goodness” (Emerson, “Self-Reliance”). They must see through the masks and the headscarves and find out for themselves what truly defines a terrorist. Once they realize the true characteristics of a terrorist, they must work to understand the mindset of a terrorist. Through peaceful negotiations and tolerance, the violent urges of even the most vicious terrorist can be pacified. It has been proven that FBI agents were able to extract much more valuable information from terrorists and terror suspects by speaking to them in their native tongue and treating them with respect, than the CIA who tried to milk the information from the terrorists through water-boarding and other forms of torture.
As the project came to a conclusion, I realized that transcendentalism was an impractical and overly idealistic concept for the 21st century. I certainly agreed with the idea of self-reliance and some parts of civil disobedience, but I noticed that the general concept of transcendentalism did not stress the importance of being compassionate towards other people. I am not one to ask, “Are they my poor?” (Emerson, “Self-Reliance”) when I am asked to donate for charity. I took off my mask when I realized that I was tormenting my teacher.
I had stood up for my beliefs at the expense of making others feel uncomfortable. When my peers avoided me and called me terrorist-related names, I held my head high and thought myself as a rugged individualist. As my experiment progressed, no one accosted me. I certainly did not like that. I learned that I greatly appreciate human interaction. I realized that I am much more sociable than I thought I was, and preferred developing friendships to obsessing over personal convictions. Emerson said, “It is easy in solitude to live after our own, but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude” (Emerson, “Self-Reliance”). I am not courageous enough to follow this philosophy at a daily basis, and I certainly do not wish to alienate myself from other people just to convey my sense of self-reliance and civil disobedience. I love my friends and I love life too much to become an insensitive hermit. After all, even the most self-reliant person cannot do everything on his own. His nonconformist ideas will not take care of him when he is ill, but his friends and family will. Sorry Waldo. I think it is time you went looking for a different audience.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
The Greatest Man on Earth
I am the greatest human being that I know. Every word I speak, every move I make, and every thing I touch holds an atom of my greatness in it.
I am the most important person in this world. Therefore, I am entitled to everything that benefits solely myself.
I am not bound to any promises, obligations, or expectations from the others. I exist only to please myself.
Don't get me wrong. I am not a hedonist. I mean to please myself by following my passions.
Am I selfish? Yes. Am I egotistical? Certainly. Am I arrogant? No.
Allow me to explain. Contrary to popular consent, there is a difference between ego and arrogance. When an individual acknowledges his self-existence and develops deep self-respect, he lays foundation to his ego. His ego further develops as he discovers his passion and pushes on to perfect it. The perfection of human capabilities, or at least the progression towards such a goal, is what constitutes to ego.
Arrogance is the embodiment of insecurity and low-self esteem. I sense it in every arrogant person that I meet, a sort of lurking emptiness and depression. Arrogant people have no self-respect. Their actions are the results of what other people think of them. They don't have anything of their own to be truly proud of. They hate what they do, but never relinquish their position in fear of losing their place in society. They solely rely on their arrogance to remind themselves that their existence on Earth holds some value.
Arrogant people are one of the most tragic and despicable beings in this world. Their understanding of their low-self esteem is so tremendous that they develop a fake identity and devote their lives to impressing other people, instead of doing what they truly enjoy doing. In their meaningless quest for acceptance, arrogant people make a lot of sham friends, but even more true enemies.
People with ego, myself included, have many enemies, but close, true friends. I couldn't really care less what the others think of me. I do not care if I appear to be different. I do not care if I sound obnoxious. I do not care if my actions establish me as an arrogant individual. All that matters is that I see myself as who I am and that I respect myself.
If you think this is just another embodiment of the thoughts of a typical, idealistic, nonconformist adolescent, think again. I am not idealistic. I am not nonconformist. I only think what I tell myself to think. I only do what I think I should do. I do not force myself to conform or not to conform to society's demands. I am me. I do not represent any collective reason or ideal. I live only for myself. I live only to enjoy life.
My goal in life is to prove to myself that I can live it to the fullest and utilize my capabilities to the maximum. All else do not matter. Life is too short to get immersed in self-pity or pessimism. I am selfish. I am egotistical. I am ambitious. I am passionate. I am the greatest man on Earth.
I am the most important person in this world. Therefore, I am entitled to everything that benefits solely myself.
I am not bound to any promises, obligations, or expectations from the others. I exist only to please myself.
Don't get me wrong. I am not a hedonist. I mean to please myself by following my passions.
Am I selfish? Yes. Am I egotistical? Certainly. Am I arrogant? No.
Allow me to explain. Contrary to popular consent, there is a difference between ego and arrogance. When an individual acknowledges his self-existence and develops deep self-respect, he lays foundation to his ego. His ego further develops as he discovers his passion and pushes on to perfect it. The perfection of human capabilities, or at least the progression towards such a goal, is what constitutes to ego.
Arrogance is the embodiment of insecurity and low-self esteem. I sense it in every arrogant person that I meet, a sort of lurking emptiness and depression. Arrogant people have no self-respect. Their actions are the results of what other people think of them. They don't have anything of their own to be truly proud of. They hate what they do, but never relinquish their position in fear of losing their place in society. They solely rely on their arrogance to remind themselves that their existence on Earth holds some value.
Arrogant people are one of the most tragic and despicable beings in this world. Their understanding of their low-self esteem is so tremendous that they develop a fake identity and devote their lives to impressing other people, instead of doing what they truly enjoy doing. In their meaningless quest for acceptance, arrogant people make a lot of sham friends, but even more true enemies.
People with ego, myself included, have many enemies, but close, true friends. I couldn't really care less what the others think of me. I do not care if I appear to be different. I do not care if I sound obnoxious. I do not care if my actions establish me as an arrogant individual. All that matters is that I see myself as who I am and that I respect myself.
If you think this is just another embodiment of the thoughts of a typical, idealistic, nonconformist adolescent, think again. I am not idealistic. I am not nonconformist. I only think what I tell myself to think. I only do what I think I should do. I do not force myself to conform or not to conform to society's demands. I am me. I do not represent any collective reason or ideal. I live only for myself. I live only to enjoy life.
My goal in life is to prove to myself that I can live it to the fullest and utilize my capabilities to the maximum. All else do not matter. Life is too short to get immersed in self-pity or pessimism. I am selfish. I am egotistical. I am ambitious. I am passionate. I am the greatest man on Earth.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Transcendental Unibrows.
Draw in an eyeliner unibrow and suddenly the whole world never views you the same again.
This project has showed me in plain sight how shallow our school can really be : /
Sunday, October 25, 2009
The Key to Invincibility
"Do not be an unwise churl and rail at society nor so worldly wise as to condemn solitude. But use them as a condition. Be their master, not their slave. Make circumstance, all circumstance, conform to the law of your mind. Be always a king, and not they, and nothing shall hurt you."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Saturday, October 24, 2009
dreams and dreaming
Is it worse to dream wonderful dreams and then have them all come crashing down around you
or is it worse to kill all of your dreams to avoid disappointment?
When I'm feeling good, I think it's better to feel things; I feel like any pain I have felt is worth the joy that comes at certain other times. I feel like the rush that comes from dreaming is worth plunging off an emotional cliff later when all those dreams are popped like shiny bubbles that are impaled on the dead spires of summer grass. But it really sucks to be sad. It's not fun at all to be hurting, to feel like everything you ever wanted is a lie and everything is hopeless. When you try your best and just keep failing, it's incredibly hard to keep trying. It's incredibly hard to keep caring. It's incredibly hard to keep dreaming.
It seems that dreams nourish the heart and soul. I don't want to have an emaciated heart and soul. So I guess I'll just keep trying. Keep caring. Keep dreaming.
or is it worse to kill all of your dreams to avoid disappointment?
When I'm feeling good, I think it's better to feel things; I feel like any pain I have felt is worth the joy that comes at certain other times. I feel like the rush that comes from dreaming is worth plunging off an emotional cliff later when all those dreams are popped like shiny bubbles that are impaled on the dead spires of summer grass. But it really sucks to be sad. It's not fun at all to be hurting, to feel like everything you ever wanted is a lie and everything is hopeless. When you try your best and just keep failing, it's incredibly hard to keep trying. It's incredibly hard to keep caring. It's incredibly hard to keep dreaming.
It seems that dreams nourish the heart and soul. I don't want to have an emaciated heart and soul. So I guess I'll just keep trying. Keep caring. Keep dreaming.
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